Archive for August, 2014

People and the Planet

This substantial, 132 page, Royal Society report of April 2012 is the work of 24 authors from 11 countries, and should be taken seriously. It gives an overview of the impacts of human population and consumption on the planet. Its concern is the continuing growth of the world population which reached 7 billion in 2011 and is expected to increase to between 8 and 11 billon by 2050. In this it concentrates on what they believe could or ...

Three warnings of fragility of energy supplies

Three events this month have combined to demonstrate the fragility of the world’s energy supplies and Britain’s in particular.

The first was Angela Merkel’s dash to Kiev when yet another sub-crisis of Russia’s annexation of the Crimea boiled up with a Russian aid convoy crossing into the Ukraine to relieve pro-Russian rebels in the east of the country. She is desperately worried about Germany’s gas supplies from Russia.

Westinghouse Electric Company and Blue Castle Holdings, a US energy infrastructure development company, have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for the development of two new AP1000 nuclear units in the state of Utah, Westinghouse said in a statement.

Westinghouse said the two units are planned for a new site called Green River, where substantial uranium deposits were mined from the 1940s until the 1960s.

Under the agreement, the companies will cooperate on all activities related to the new-build project, from nuclear ...